Amos 3:11-6:14
English Standard Version
11 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
(A)“An adversary shall surround the land
and bring down[a] your defenses from you,
and (B)your strongholds shall be plundered.”
12 Thus says the Lord: (C)“As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, (D)so shall the people of Israel (E)who dwell in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part[b] of a bed.
13 “Hear, (F)and testify against the house of Jacob,”
declares the Lord God, (G)the God of hosts,
14 “that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions,
(H)I will punish the altars of Bethel,
and (I)the horns of the altar shall be cut off
and fall to the ground.
15 (J)I will strike (K)the winter house along with (L)the summer house,
and (M)the houses of ivory shall perish,
and the great houses[c] shall come to an end,”
declares the Lord.
4 “Hear this word, (N)you cows of Bashan,
who are (O)on the mountain of Samaria,
(P)who oppress the poor, (Q)who crush the needy,
who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’
2 (R)The Lord God has sworn by his holiness
that, behold, the days are coming upon you,
(S)when they shall take you away with hooks,
(T)even the last of you with fishhooks.
3 (U)And you shall go out through the breaches,
each one straight ahead;
and you shall be cast out into Harmon,”
declares the Lord.
4 (V)“Come to Bethel, and transgress;
to (W)Gilgal, and multiply transgression;
(X)bring your (Y)sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three days;
5 offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of (Z)that which is leavened,
and proclaim (AA)freewill offerings, publish them;
(AB)for so you love to do, O people of Israel!”
declares the Lord God.
Israel Has Not Returned to the Lord
6 “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
and (AC)lack of bread in all your places,
(AD)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
7 “I also (AE)withheld the rain from you
when there were yet three months to the harvest;
(AF)I would send rain on one city,
and send no rain on another city;
one field would have rain,
and the field on which it did not rain would wither;
8 so two or three cities (AG)would wander to another city
to drink water, and would not be satisfied;
(AH)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
9 (AI)“I struck you with blight and mildew;
your many gardens and your vineyards,
your fig trees and your olive trees (AJ)the locust devoured;
(AK)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
10 “I sent among you a pestilence (AL)after the manner of Egypt;
I killed your young men with the sword,
and (AM)carried away your horses,[d]
and (AN)I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;
(AO)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
11 “I overthrew some of you,
(AP)as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
and you were (AQ)as a brand[e] plucked out of the burning;
(AR)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
12 “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
13 For behold, (AS)he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,
and (AT)declares to man what is his thought,
(AU)who makes the morning darkness,
and (AV)treads on the heights of the earth—
(AW)the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!
Seek the Lord and Live
5 Hear this word that I (AX)take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:
2 “Fallen, no more to rise,
is (AY)the virgin Israel;
forsaken on her land,
with none to raise her up.”
3 For thus says the Lord God:
“The city that went out a thousand
shall have a hundred left,
and that which went out a hundred
shall have ten left
to the house of Israel.”
4 For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:
(AZ)“Seek me and live;
5 but do not seek (BA)Bethel,
and do not enter into (BB)Gilgal
or cross over to (BC)Beersheba;
for (BD)Gilgal shall surely go into exile,
and (BE)Bethel shall come to nothing.”
6 (BF)Seek the Lord and live,
(BG)lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
and it devour, with none to quench it for (BH)Bethel,
7 O (BI)you who turn justice to wormwood[f]
and cast down righteousness to the earth!
8 He who made the (BJ)Pleiades and Orion,
and turns deep darkness into the morning
and (BK)darkens the day into night,
who (BL)calls for the waters of the sea
(BM)and pours them out on the surface of the earth,
(BN)the Lord is his name;
9 (BO)who makes destruction flash forth against the strong,
so that destruction comes upon the fortress.
10 (BP)They hate him who reproves (BQ)in the gate,
and they (BR)abhor him who speaks the truth.
11 Therefore because you (BS)trample on[g] the poor
and you exact taxes of grain from him,
(BT)you have built houses of hewn stone,
but you shall not dwell in them;
(BU)you have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.
12 For I know how many are your transgressions
and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who (BV)take a bribe,
and (BW)turn aside the needy (BX)in the gate.
13 Therefore he who is prudent will (BY)keep silent in such a time,
(BZ)for it is an evil time.
14 (CA)Seek good, and not evil,
that you may live;
and so the Lord, (CB)the God of hosts, will be with you,
as you have said.
15 (CC)Hate evil, and love good,
and establish justice (CD)in the gate;
(CE)it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore thus says the Lord, (CF)the God of hosts, the Lord:
“In all the squares (CG)there shall be wailing,
and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’
They shall call the farmers to mourning
and (CH)to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation,
17 and in all vineyards there shall be wailing,
for (CI)I will pass through your midst,”
says the Lord.
Let Justice Roll Down
18 Woe to you who desire (CJ)the day of the Lord!
Why would you have the day of the Lord?
(CK)It is darkness, and not light,
19 (CL)as if a man fled from a lion,
and a bear met him,
or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,
and a serpent bit him.
20 (CM)Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light,
and gloom with no brightness in it?
21 (CN)“I hate, I despise your feasts,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
22 (CO)Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,
I will not look upon them.
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
to (CP)the melody of your harps I will not listen.
24 But let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
25 (CQ)“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 (CR)You (CS)shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, 27 (CT)and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is (CU)the God of hosts.
Woe to Those at Ease in Zion
6 (CV)“Woe to those who are at ease in Zion,
and to those who feel secure on (CW)the mountain of Samaria,
(CX)the notable men of (CY)the first of the nations,
to whom the house of Israel comes!
2 Pass over to (CZ)Calneh, and see,
and from there go to (DA)Hamath the great;
then go down to (DB)Gath of the Philistines.
(DC)Are you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory,
3 (DD)O you who put far away the day of disaster
(DE)and bring near the seat of violence?
4 “Woe to those (DF)who lie on (DG)beds of ivory
(DH)and stretch themselves out on their couches,
and eat lambs from the flock
(DI)and calves from the midst of the stall,
5 (DJ)who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp
and like David (DK)invent for themselves instruments of music,
6 (DL)who drink wine in bowls
and (DM)anoint themselves with the finest oils,
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!
7 (DN)Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile,
and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”
8 (DO)The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts:
“I abhor (DP)the pride of Jacob
and hate his strongholds,
(DQ)and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”
9 And (DR)if ten men remain in one house, they shall die. 10 And when one's relative, (DS)the one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, “Is there still anyone with you?” he shall say, “No”; and he shall say, (DT)“Silence! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”
11 For behold, the Lord commands,
and (DU)the great house shall be struck down into fragments,
and the little house into bits.
12 Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow there[h] with oxen?
(DV)But you have turned justice into (DW)poison
(DX)and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood[i]—
13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar,[j]
who say, (DY)“Have we not by our own strength
captured Karnaim[k] for ourselves?”
14 “For behold, (DZ)I will raise up against you a nation,
O house of Israel,” declares the Lord, the God of hosts;
“and they shall oppress you from (EA)Lebo-hamath
to the Brook of (EB)the Arabah.”
Footnotes
- Amos 3:11 Hebrew An adversary, one who surrounds the land—he shall bring down
- Amos 3:12 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
- Amos 3:15 Or and many houses
- Amos 4:10 Hebrew along with the captivity of your horses
- Amos 4:11 That is, a burning stick
- Amos 5:7 Or to bitter fruit
- Amos 5:11 Or you tax
- Amos 6:12 Or the sea
- Amos 6:12 Or into bitter fruit
- Amos 6:13 Lo-debar means nothing
- Amos 6:13 Karnaim means horns (a symbol of strength)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Bible Gateway Recommends
